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Are you experiencing high Gen5 data usage? Here's why.

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maltboy
Sophomore

Are you experiencing high Gen5 data usage? Here's why.

Are you seeing abnormally high data usage on your Gen 5 account?

Here's why.

HughesNet is charging ALL local data that goes through your WiFi against your data plan!

Are you using Chromecast to stream data from your laptop to your TV over WiFI? Guess what? It counts against your plan!

I Was using WAY mare data than usual after getting Gen 5 service, so I installed Glasswire to see where my data was going. I discovered that I was actually downloading only about 110 MB a day, but I had used 900 MB locally to stream some videos I had on my laptop to my TV over the WiFi. HughesNet charged the entire 1GB against my cap! I called CS and they confirmed that ALL data that goes through the local WiFi gets charged to my cap.  They are literally charging me to stream my own data from my laptop to my TV even if I didn't actually download a single byte of satellite data!

 

There is a legal term for charging someone for something they didn't get.  It's called fraud.

58 REPLIES 58
GW
Advanced Tutor

I'll tell you a little secret about many of the phone reps. They don't always get things right or have a firm understanding about much of anything. Further, they will tell you just about anything to make you say goodbye and leave them alone.

macsociety
Advanced Tutor


@maltboy wrote:

Are you seeing abnormally high data usage on your Gen 5 account?

Here's why.

HughesNet is charging ALL local data that goes through your WiFi against your data plan!

Are you using Chromecast to stream data from your laptop to your TV over WiFI? Guess what? It counts against your plan!

I Was using WAY mare data than usual after getting Gen 5 service, so I installed Glasswire to see where my data was going. I discovered that I was actually downloading only about 110 MB a day, but I had used 900 MB locally to stream some videos I had on my laptop to my TV over the WiFi. HughesNet charged the entire 1GB against my cap! I called CS and they confirmed that ALL data that goes through the local WiFi gets charged to my cap.  They are literally charging me to stream my own data from my laptop to my TV even if I didn't actually download a single byte of satellite data!

 

There is a legal term for charging someone for something they didn't get.  It's called fraud.


Do you have some proof, maybe pics you can post here, that clearly show your local area network data is being calculated into your data use by Hughes.  Something does not seem right with that.

 

I used to be on Gen 4... used 1GB per day religiously.  Now on Gen 5 and used twice that, sometimes even more.

 

But, I never thought Hughes could use our local data in there computations.

 

Please show us some proof.

 

TJ

 

glasswire.pngHughesnet Data.png

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@maltboy

 

On the upper right of the circle graph on the left, set your options to "Incoming & Outgoing" and "External".  You're including "Local" results, which is skewing your results.  Local results are things going on within your own computer and it has nothing to do with the internet.  

 

It should look like this...

 

Screenshot (73).jpg

 

But, regardless, it is impossible for data that does not flow through the HughesNet modem to be counted by HughesNet.  Only data coming into the modem from the coax cable that is connected to the dish and going out via WiFi or Lan cable, or the reverse, is counted.  It is impossible for any other data to be counted by HughesNet.  

It’s definitely possible for Hughes to count the data that’s passed from station to station through the HT2000W WiFi AP, or forwarded through the built-in LAN switch. But I can’t imagine even Hughes thinking they could get away with this. ISP data caps apply only to data transferred to and from the Internet.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@pswired wrote:
It’s definitely possible for Hughes to count the data that’s passed from station to station through the HT2000W WiFi AP, or forwarded through the built-in LAN switch. But I can’t imagine even Hughes thinking they could get away with this. ISP data caps apply only to data transferred to and from the Internet.

Eh, I'm not so sure about that.  I don't think the way the modem is built and the way the data is counted would make that possible.  I don't think they would take the chance of that even appearing to be a possibility.  Only an engineer could say for sure.  With that said, though, unlike what the phone rep stated, whom I believe either misunderstood the question or just plain didn't know what they were talking about, HughesNet only counts HughesNet data and nothing else.  

I spoke to the rep and her supervisor, both who understood the question perfectly, and both who confirmed that locally streamed WiFi data is counted against the data cap. I notice that you have gone from "not possible" to "I don't think it's possible".  Everything is impossible... until it isn't.  My locally streamed data is being counted.  The graphs prove it.

 

BTW, the external data is shown in the bar graph below the circle graph.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@maltboy wrote:

I spoke to the rep and her supervisor, both who understood the question perfectly, and both who confirmed that locally streamed WiFi data is counted against the data cap. I notice that you have gone from "not possible" to "I don't think it's possible".  Everything is impossible... until it isn't.  My locally streamed data is being counted.  The graphs prove it.

 

BTW, the external data is shown in the bar graph below the circle graph.


Yes, I have said it's possible, but only as an accident, though I still don't believe it is possible.  They absolutely 100% DO NOT COUNT LOCAL DATA, and NEVER have.  The ONLY data that's counted is data downloaded or uploaded from HughesNet.  The graphs prove nothing.  The graphs only prove that local data went through your computer.  

 

Look, believe what you wish, but HughesNet did not, and does not, count local data.  The only data that's counted by HughesNet is HughesNet data.  I don't care what a phone rep or supervisor said.  HughesNet ONLY counts HughesNet data, and nothing more.  Never have, never will.  

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@maltboy wrote:

 

BTW, the external data is shown in the bar graph below the circle graph.


Yes, it is, and 922.6MB of your total has nothing to do with HughesNet, as it's local data.  If you're using Glasswire to watch your HughesNet data all that Local data does is skew your total.  But, do as you wish.  

 

And good luck to you, as I'm finished with this thread.  


@GabeU wrote:

@maltboy wrote:

 

BTW, the external data is shown in the bar graph below the circle graph.


Yes, it is, and 922.6MB of your total has nothing to do with HughesNet, as it's local data.  If you're using Glasswire to watch your HughesNet data all that Local data does is skew your total.  But, do as you wish.  

 

And good luck to you, as I'm finished with this thread.  


The whole point is to show that local data are counted against the cap.  It would be difficult to do that if I didn't show what is actually being used locally.  The graph shows that I used about 100MB externally and 900MB locally.  The HughesNet graph shows I had 1 GB charged against my cap. 100MB + 900MB = 1GB.  There are lots of people reporting excessive data usage.  It's possible this is the reason why. 

 

Frankly, I'm glad you are done with this thread because your tone is one of a pompous knowitall who is never wrong.  Thanks for the "help".

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@maltboy

 

I know what the point it.  If, in fact, your local data was counted by HughesNet, that's a freak thing and must be dealt with and fixed immediately.  With that said, again, Hughes has never, and will never, count local data against your data cap, because it's not HughesNet data.  No ISP does this and never will.  What you were told by the rep and supervisor is patently incorrect.  It is an immutable fact that HughesNet does NOT count local data against your data cap.  Again, if yours did this time, then there is something seriously wrong with your modem, as this is not the practice of HughesNet and never has been.  

 

But, with that said, you're going to need more than just Glasswire to prove that this happened.   

 

Edit.  Not only would HughesNet doing this be illegal, as it would for any ISP, but it would have been noticed a long time ago, as Glasswire has been recommended to, and used by, Hughesnet members for years, as it's a very good tool for those who have an ISP with a data cap.  The HT2000W modem has also been in use since March.  

I'd appreciate your suggestions on what software I need to track this down. I'm not discounting the possibility that I'm using that much data externally, but it looks awfully suspicious. Maybe I'm also underestimating the stupidity of the CS techs.

 

I'm thinking I should disconnect everything except the laptop for a day and stream some video from my laptop to my TV and see what happens.  All I have hooked up is a couple of Honeywell Smart thermostats, a printer, my TV and my laptop.  

GW
Advanced Tutor


@maltboy wrote:

 Maybe I'm also underestimating the stupidity of the CS techs.

 

 


Finally, there it is.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@maltboy

 

I don't really know what other software you could use for something like this, but you actually touched a little on what I was meaning by that with your other devices, as in Glasswire can't show if your other devices actually used the data and it was coincidental.  What you're thinking would actually be a very good idea, as in disconnecting the devices and then trying the local streaming again.  And disconnecting, as you mentioned, would be best, as sometimes things can still connect even though they say they're off, though I don't know that this is the case with the devices you listed.  

 

And as for the phone reps, never underestimate that.  LOL.  I've heard them say some of the oddest things.  I saw that they told someone just the other day to make sure their LAN connected device was closer to the modem to alleviate the connection issue they were having.  A while ago a person wrote that they told them that their LAN cable needed to be reversed.  SMH.  They have a script for most things, but with something like this, most likely because it's a rare question, they probably have to go off of that script, and when it comes to technology, even HughesNet's own, a lot of them are completely in the dark.  Without that script or the screen to give them info....ugh.  That's not all of them, of course, as some of them have a lot of knowledge, but I think a lot of them don't and they go with the script, and when they can't answer something they often refer to the engineers, or at least have a CS agent call the customer back within a certain amount of time.    

 

And I apologize if I came off as a know-it-all, as I am the first one to admit that I definitely don't know it all.  

GW
Advanced Tutor

Over the years I've talked to so many of these phone reps that are so far off the reservation they'll never be reeled in.

GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

 

Ugh, it double posted, so I'm deleting this one.  

 


@GabeU wrote:

 

And I apologize if I came off as a know-it-all, as I am the first one to admit that I definitely don't know it all.  

 



Thanks for the insight.  I'm more than a little angry over this, so my fuse is definitely short right now.  I apologize for passing judgement so quickly.

@Liz or @Amanda, can you confirm that local data is or is not counted against our data caps.  Please see messages above.  Appears @maltboy only believes he used so much data but somehow Hughes may be counting his local streaming of data against his data cap with Hughes.

 

Thanks for any official Hughes notes about this.

 

TJ

I am expereienceing the same thing, Hughnet is charging me data usage for Chromecasting shows I have downloaded on a seperate network. I is possible because they are doing it.. 

Hi

 

So, obviously this is a topic we'll need to handle carefully. I have very little experience with Plex, but from research there have been similar cases where something like this occurs. The majority of the complainants, it seems, are using Chromecast. There have been some discussions regarding local setup failures causing the remote access to kick in, or NAT loopback issues. 

 

I am going to test this in our lab as soon as I can, as well as bring this thread to the attention of an engineer. Finally, I will have those support calls pulled so we can provide coaching to the agents. 

 

Just to clarify, do you use the HughesNet wi-fi built-in to the modem or do you use your own router connected to ours? 

 

Thanks

Amanda